Old Town Mexican Cafe (July
2018) - Classic Mexican Food, and They Have A/C, Too!
My spouse and I
enjoyed lunch and drinks at the Old Town Mexican Café (OTMC) on a Friday afternoon
in early July 2018. The restaurant is open daily from 7:00 am until 11:00 pm
(with extended closing time of 12:00 midnight on weekends). The restaurant does
not appear to accept reservations; however, they will add your name to a
waiting list when you arrive and call out when your table is ready.
The Old Town Mexican
Café opened in 1977 on San Diego Avenue in Old Town. The street is full of
similar Mexican restaurants (and souvenir shops), and it is difficult to choose
to dine at one place over another. However, for us it was no contest, because OTMC
is one of the rare restaurants that offers some seating in an air-conditioned
room, which was necessary on the extremely (and unusually) hot day that we
visited. But we would return because the hospitality was great and the food was
tasty.
The restaurant is
divided into two distinct spaces: original and newer. The original
air-conditioned darker side is divided into two sections. The bar/lounge area offers
seating at a long wooden bar or at adjacent high-top tables, whereas the main
dining space offers seating at booths and tables with colorful decorative
accents. The second brighter (and warmer!) dining area offers semi-patio
seating, with a second bar and many tables. The Old Town Mexican Café can also
host banquets/events and provide off-site catering services.
As expected, the
OTMC serves traditional Mexican cuisine, with a few special dishes such as
molcajete, carnitas, pozole, and tamales. Their handmade tortillas are a big
draw, and you can watch women making them in the tortilla kitchen at the front
of the restaurant, which is also visible from the sidewalk through the large
front windows. Most entrée dishes are served with the ubiquitous rice and
beans. We ordered flan for dessert, but the bartender was so busy that he
forgot to enter it into the computer. By the time we realized that it wasn’t
coming, we were ready to depart. (It was easy to forgive him that one small
mistake, because he comped us a round of drinks [one beer and a tequila
sunrise] to make up for it.)
We enjoyed a traditional Mexican lunch in the
air-conditioned comfort of the Old Town Mexican Café.
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